1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to luggage that may be wheeled in the four directions parallel to the front, rear, and two side walls of the luggage and, in particular, to handles attached to such luggage to effect such wheeling.
2. Description of the Related Art
Luggage of a generally parallelepiped shape has six walls, namely, a top wall, bottom wall, front wall, rear wall, and two side walls, and may have wheels or other rolling members placed on the bottom wall of the luggage to permit wheeling the luggage in four directions parallel to the front, rear, and two side walls of the luggage. However, the handle or other grasping means attached to the luggage and used to wheel the luggage in any one of the four directions is typically not equally well adapted to move the luggage in all four directions or, if it is so adapted, is not particularly effective for some of the directions or employs more than one handle or other grasping means.
Van Hooreweder, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,578, for example, has four wheels attached to a face of luggage opposite a handle for moving the luggage by use of the four wheels. Three of the wheels are mounted in casters capable of swiveling about an axis perpendicular to the face of the luggage on which the wheels are attached. The fourth wheel is mounted in a fixed caster restricting rotation of this wheel to produce movement in a direction parallel to the longer dimension of the face of the luggage on which the wheels are attached. The luggage is capable, therefore, of moving in either of the two directions parallel to the longer dimension of the face of the luggage on which the wheels are attached, but is only stated to move in one of the two directions parallel to the shorter dimension of the face of the luggage by tipping the luggage to an angle to its normally vertical position so that only the two wheels in swiveling casters remain in contact with the surface upon which the luggage is supported and pulling the handle used for moving the luggage (column 2, lines 59-66). Moreover, the handle used for moving the luggage over the wheels is of conventional construction allowing limited gripping area and, therefore, limited flexibility and effectiveness in applying the force necessary to move the luggage using the wheels.
Berman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,795, discloses luggage with four wheels attached to the bottom wall. Two of the wheels are mounted in fixed casters which are arranged at opposite ends of one of the longer sides of the bottom wall so as to rotate and cause motion of the luggage in either direction parallel to the longer dimension of the bottom wall. The remaining two wheels are mounted in casters arranged at opposite ends of the other of the longer sides of the bottom wall and are capable of swiveling so that the wheels can rotate through 360 degrees. This allows the remaining two wheels to be placed in positions perpendicular to the wheels in the fixed casters so as to allow motion of the luggage in one direction parallel to the shorter dimensions of the bottom wall when the luggage is placed at an angle to its normally vertical orientation, thus lifting the fixed casters and wheels in them from contact with the surface on which the luggage is supported. The user produces the motion of the luggage over the wheels by grasping a telescopic U-shaped handle which extends from the top wall of the luggage, but is located at and extends parallel to the side of the top wall corresponding to the side of the bottom wall on which the swiveling casters are located. The luggage can be rolled in either of the two directions parallel to the longer dimension of the bottom wall by simply applying force in the selected direction to the telescopic U-shaped handle. In addition, the luggage can be pulled in a direction parallel to the shorter dimension of the bottom wall by tipping the luggage out of its normal vertical orientation so that the two wheels contained in the swiveling casters are in contact with the surface supporting the luggage, but the two wheels contained in the fixed casters are not in contact with the surface supporting the luggage. The handle is effective in producing motion in the direction parallel to the shorter dimension of the bottom wall since it is perpendicular to the direction of motion, but is not very efficient in producing motion parallel to the longer dimension of the bottom wall since it is parallel to the direction of motion and is not centrally located with respect to the shorter dimension of the bottom wall.
The luggage in McNair, U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,806, approaches the problem of making luggage movable in a different way than the references previously mentioned. Instead of relying on wheels that allow the luggage to remain in the vertical position for at least some directions of movement, McNair describes a wheel arrangement that requires tipping the luggage from the vertical position so that some of the wheels lose contact with the surface supporting the luggage in the vertical orientation in order for the luggage to be rolled in any direction.
The main embodiment in the invention has two sets of two rigidly fixed wheels. One set of wheels is fixed to opposite ends of one of the longer edges of the bottom wall and arranged so that the axis of rotation of the wheels is parallel to the longer edges of the bottom wall. The other set of wheels is fixed to opposite ends of one of the shorter edges of the bottom wall of the luggage and arranged so that the axis of rotation of the wheels is parallel to the shorter edges of the bottom wall. Two handles are attached to the luggage either telescoping from the top wall or folding flush against it when not in use. One handle is located along a longer edge of the top wall and one handle is located along a shorter edge of the top wall.
To produce movement of the luggage in the direction parallel to the shorter dimension of the top wall, the handle along the longer edge of the top wall is used to tip the luggage so that only the wheels along the long edge of the bottom wall contact the surface and the luggage may then be rolled along using these wheels. Similarly, to produce movement of the luggage in the direction parallel to the longer dimension of the top wall, the handle along the shorter edge of the top wall is used to tip the luggage so that only the wheels along the short edge of the bottom wall contact the surface and the luggage may then be rolled along using these wheels.
An alternate embodiment only differs from that above in that the two of the wheels, which are closest to each other, on the intersecting edges of the bottom wall are replaced by a single swiveling caster, in which is mounted a wheel, at the intersection of the two edges of the bottom wall on which the two remaining fixed wheels are located.
This invention allows for more effective control over travel in the mutually perpendicular directions parallel to the longer and shorter dimensions of the top wall by providing for two handles situated as they are, but the disadvantage of the necessity for two handles remains.
A case disclosed in Sadow, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,538, provides for movement of the case in two directions perpendicular to the shorter dimension of the bottom wall and two directions perpendicular to the longer dimension of the bottom wall. This is effected through the presence of a pair of wheels on each of the shorter edges of the bottom wall and on one of the longer edges of the bottom wall. A retractable handle that projects from the interior of the top wall of the case and that is rotatable through an angle of 90 degrees so that the grip of the handle is either parallel to the longer dimension of the bottom wall or the shorter dimension of the bottom wall allows the user to propel the case in any one of the aforesaid four directions by first angling the case from the vertical so that its weight rests on the set of wheels whose axis of rotation is perpendicular to the direction of travel desired.
Although only one handle is thus required for control of the case, the single relatively short horizontal bar interrupted by the handle shaft which serves as the grip may not be comfortable for the user or very effective in exerting the force necessary to control the case in difficult situations where the surface to be traversed becomes irregular, greatly inclined, or otherwise challenging. The alternative embodiment of the towing handle shown in FIG. 3 of Sadow is a conventional U-shaped telescopic handle well known in the art, but since it is aligned parallel to the longer dimension of the bottom wall, it will not be very effective in enabling the user to control the travel of the case when it is desired to move the case in a direction parallel to the longer dimension of the bottom wall.